


It's Gonna Be a Zoo

by Zetal (Rodinia)



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen, I am not allowed to wander around pet stores for exactly this reason, Pets, bunker family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-28
Updated: 2016-08-28
Packaged: 2018-08-11 15:39:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7898329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rodinia/pseuds/Zetal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Winchesters decided to get a pet.  What kind of pet?  They'll decide that at the pet store.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's Gonna Be a Zoo

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt from @otpprompts:
> 
> Person A is a cat person. Person B is a dog person. The two of them are arguing which pet to buy. (Bonus points if they get both. Double bonus points if they decide on something unusual like an iguana.)
> 
> Combined with SPN Hiatus Writing Challenge Week 14: "This is ten times worse than that."

It was tough, deciding to retire. Sam had to, of course. He didn’t have a choice. Not necessarily permanently, none of them were giving up on finding a way to unravel the magic Toni and her gang had used, but with his tremors, there was no way he could hold a gun steady. The chronic pain he could have pushed through. It honestly wasn’t that bad. But if he couldn’t shoot straight, he had no business being in the field.

That didn’t mean Dean had to retire. Sure, it would take some time getting used to having Mary with him instead of Sam, but Mary was a badass in her own right. Cas had recovered a surprising amount, too. He’d told Sam once, during a late-night NetFlix session, that his wings would probably never heal. That he didn’t believe there was enough grace left. So when Sam woke up in the Bunker for the first time after his family came and got him from the extremist Men of Letters, to see his room filled with gleaming black feathers, it had been a joyous shock. They still didn’t know when or how Cas’s wings had healed.

Mary had never wanted the life. Dean had always fluctuated between “this is all I can do” and “I’m sick of this and I can do so much better”. Surprisingly, it had been Castiel who resisted retirement the most. He didn’t like the thought of feeling useless. It took Dean and Sam both to convince him that even if he did retire with them – and with his wings fixed, he didn’t have to, he could hunt on his own or with Claire – he wasn’t useless to them. He was family.

The tipping point had come when Dean called a family meeting. “All right. I found a spell that wards off environmental allergens. The Men of Letters bound it into the walls of the Bunker.”

“Okay… yay, we’re not going to get hay fever?” Sam looked at Mary and Cas, who seemed equally confused.

“Neither of us has had hay fever in our lives, Sammy.” Dean rolled his eyes. “What I’m saying is, if we’re actually doing this and settling down, then I want to make up for some childhood experiences you never got to have. Like having a pet. Thanks to the allergen spell, cats are fine. We’re not getting a Yorkie or a dog that’s too big and black.”

“Why not a big black dog?” Mary asked.

Sam shook his head. “Has Dean told you about the time he was ripped apart by hellhounds?”

“…Oh. No, I hadn’t heard that particular story yet.” Mary reached out and took Dean’s hands. “Objection withdrawn. No big black dogs. Maybe a nice beagle or something? Golden retriever?”

“Yeah. Those would probably be okay.” Dean looked over at Sam and Cas. “What do you guys think? Get someone around here who hasn’t died and been brought back to life?”

Sam grinned. He’d always wanted a dog, but first their lifestyle and then Dean’s hellhound issues meant he never thought it would be possible. “PetSmart has shelter dogs on Saturdays. We could go look tomorrow, see if we can find a good one?”

“They also have cats,” Castiel said. “If Dean’s allergies aren’t a factor, I would prefer a cat.”

“You would.” Sam reached for Castiel’s hand. “We’ll look at the cats, too. Settle it by what we can find.”

 

At the pet store, Dean and Cas went inside to look at cats, while Sam and Mary started walking around the dog crates. “I’d have thought Dean would stay out here to make sure he’d be okay with what we picked,” Mary said. “What’s with the Yorkies? That’s about as far from hellhound as you can get, I would think.”

Sam laughed as he crouched to pet a bouncing yellow mutt. “One chased him for a couple miles one time – he was experiencing ghost sickness – and he told me once he shot at a Yorkie thinking it was some kind of monster. I think he just doesn’t like them because they keep humiliating him.”

“Oh my god. Ghost sickness. That’s awful!” Mary was laughing though. “You know they’re going to come out and demand you come meet a cat, right?”

“Yep. And then I’m going to introduce them both to…” Sam glanced at the tag on the cage. “To Molly here, and Cas and I are going to get in a huge fight. But Molly and I are going to win, aren’t we, girl?” Molly yipped and tried to lick Sam’s face through the crate.

Mary looked at the tag, too. She smiled and knelt to hold out a hand to Molly. “You sure you don’t want to look around some more?”

“I’m sure. I don’t fall in love often, but when I do, I fall fast and hard. We’re not leaving without Molly.”

“We have a problem,” Dean said from behind them, causing both Sam and Mary to jump.

Sam sighed and got to his feet. “Cas found a cat that he’s in love with, too?”

“No. This is ten times worse than that.” Dean looked down at Molly and held out a hand. Molly sniffed it and started bouncing again. “Cas found… oh, just come inside and see for yourself.”

Sam looked back to Molly. “I’m coming back, I promise.” He and Mary followed Dean into the store.

Dean led them, not to the cats, but to the small mammals section. Cas was crouched with his fingers against one of the terrariums. “Sam, look. The black and yellow one there that’s looking at me. I know he’s not a dog or a cat, but…”

Sam’s first instinct was to laugh, remembering Cas’s disappointment that they didn’t actually have a guinea pig. But the guinea pig was looking at Cas, following his fingers as Cas moved them. How could he tell Cas no? He looked to Dean, and then to where Mary had been standing just a few seconds ago.

Dean looked a little sheepish. “Anyway, uh… _I_ found a cat. Walked into the cat room and there was this sweetheart just looking at me. When I got close, she stuck a paw through the cage and just patted my arm.”

“Why’d you go into the cat room to begin with?”

“I did the spell on myself, Sammy. If we’re putting a cat in the Impala, then I was gonna need protection no matter what for a few days.” Dean turned to look for Mary. “Where’d Mom go?”

“Over… oh, no.” Sam pointed over to the reptiles, where Mary was now staring into a terrarium in fascination. “This is going to be very interesting.” He headed over to see Mary wiggling her fingers at a corn snake. “Mom?”

“It’s a big bunker. Cas’s guinea pig and my snake will be in their terrariums most of the time. I always wanted a snake, but Dad wouldn’t ever let me have one and then John wouldn’t. Tell Dean to find himself something and then you get Molly. I checked, Molly’s good with other dogs and cats. I saw this coming as soon as we agreed to a pet store trip.”

“Okay, um, come talk to Dean and Cas before we make any final decisions, okay?”

“I let my father and my husband tell me I couldn’t have a snake. I am not letting my sons get away with that crap.” Mary turned to go back to Dean and Cas.

Surprisingly, Dean was good with the plan. Except for one thing. “There is no way we’re getting a guinea pig, a snake, a cat, and a dog, plus the four of us, plus all the stuff we’re gonna need to have them, in the Impala. We’re just not. Gonna have to make at least two trips.”

Mary nodded. “You and Sam go start filling out paperwork on your respective animals. Cas and I will get everything for our animals together. We’ll make the first run with supplies and the guinea pig, Cas will stay at the Bunker getting stuff set up while I come back to get the two of you and the animals. Sound good to everyone?” When no one objected, Mary took Cas’s arm and headed off to find an employee.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments make writers feel like they have something cuddly to play with!


End file.
